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LIVE UPDATES: Tracking The Companies Behind Voter Suppression in Texas
In light of new campaign disclosures and Texas’s continued assault on voting rights, we’re exposing big corporations and their executives’ donations to Texas lawmakers and those peddling the Big Lie. (Check out our broader FEC findings thread on Twitter here.)
TEXAS UPDATES
[As of Friday, July 16 at 3:45 pm EST]
*UPDATE* – In June 2021, AT&T gave $132,500 to Texas state lawmakers who are actively fighting to revive voter suppression legislation.
$20,000 – Texas State Senator Kelly Hancock
$5,000 – Texas State Rep. Phil King
$5,00 – Texas State Sen. Robert Lee Nichols
$2,500 – Texas State Rep Trent Ashby
$100,000 – Governor Abbott
Exelon Corporation—which has an entire page dedicated to Black Lives Matter professing a “fierce commitment to Diversity, Inclusion and Equity”—gave $1,000 to Texas State Sen. Donna Campbell, who cosponsored and voted for voter suppression bill SB 7.
Texas-based American Airlines, other companies resume donations to Republicans who objected to election results (Washington Post)
Companies donating to seditionist lawmakers are making it clear that democracy takes a back seat to their bottom lines. https://t.co/WQ7kAqCsSR
— Accountable.US (@accountable_us) July 16, 2021
In June 2021, Oncor and its CEO lavished one Texas lawmaker with $10,000 after he cosponsored and voted for voter suppression bills
Oncor’s Texas PAC and its CEO gave $10,000 to Texas State Rep. Craig Goldman, who cosponsored HB 6, which voting advocates have called “‘one of the worst anti-voting bills in the country,’” and voted for SB 7, which critics have called the “‘largest step back since Jim Crow.’”
June 30, 2021: Oncor Texas State PAC gave $5,000 to State Rep. Craig Goldman:
June 25, 2021: Erle Nye Jr, CEO Of Oncor, Gave $5,000 To State Rep. Craig Goldman:
The billionaire owner of @HoustonRockets, @TilmanJFertitta has donated thousands to Texas legislators AFTER they’ve voted to advance voting restrictions.
— Accountable.US (@accountable_us) July 15, 2021
AT&T Claims to Support Voter Access, But Its Texas PAC Gave $100K To Texas Governor Abbott The Same Day He Called For A Special Legislative Session To Pass A Major Voter Suppression Bill
[July 14]
Despite AT&T’s recent public statements in support of voting rights, an Accountable.US review of the most recent PAC filings from Dallas-based AT&T found that the AT&T Texas PAC reported a $100,000 contribution to Texas Governor Greg Abbott on the same day Abbott called for a special legislative session to pass a voter suppression bill among other controversial right-wing priorities. Accountable.US called on AT&T to explain to its customers, shareholders, and employees the contradictory words of its company and the actions of its affiliated political committee.
